


Wind beneath My Wings

by ChElFi



Series: Eighteen Anniversary Drabbles [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angsty Fluffiness, F/M, Fluffy Angst, Fluffy Ending, angsty beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-04
Updated: 2015-02-04
Packaged: 2018-03-10 10:32:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3287072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChElFi/pseuds/ChElFi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A small gift brings back pleasant memories for Steve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wind beneath My Wings

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here we are with another drabble. The prompt for today, thanks to my home version of Tony Stark (aka My 7yo son), is "socks."

Steve walked into the house and sat down heavily on the sofa. He listened as Maria hung her keys on the hook by the door and set her purse on one of the chairs at the kitchen table.   
  
She paused a moment then Steve heard a rustling as Maria dug into her purse for something before she walked over and sat next to him. She leaned against his shoulder and Steve felt himself finally begin to relax.  
  
"I'm sorry this hasn't turned out to be a very good anniversary, " he said as he adjusted himself to pull her into his embrace.   
  
"It's fine," she replied softly.  
  
Steve closed his eyes and concentrated on Maria's  steady breaths across his collar bone.  
  
After several minutes of silence, Maria finally spoke.  
  
"He's much better, Steve, " she said. "The training was probably just too much all at once."  
  
Steve sighed deeply and squeezed her tighter against himself.   
  
"It could have..." He started.   
  
"No, don't do that, Steve." Maria interrupted and pressed her hand against his chest to push herself off him in order to give him one of her more commanding looks.  
  
"It's been less than a year," she reminded him. "You can't expect him to be back to nkormal, not after everything thing he's gone through."  
  
Steve felt the now all to familiar stab of guilt pierce his conscience as he recalled all the times he'd felt sorry for himself for spending decades frozen in the ice. All the while Bucky...  
  
"Steve!" Maria's sharp tone pulled Steve out of his spiraling thoughts.  
  
She held his gaze until she was sure his thoughts were with her and nowhere near the dark places they'd been of late. Then she smiled slightly and leaned in to give him a gentle kiss.  
  
When she pulled away he sighed a more contented sigh.   
  
"Better? " she asked and cocked an amused eyebrow at him.   
  
He smiled and touched her face, his fingers skimming along her jaw and across her neck into her hair, where they sank into the silken strands, and Steve sighed even more contentedly.   
  
Maria chuckled at his display then reached behind her and pulled around a small package. Whatever its contents were wrapped in an old-fashioned way, butcher paper tied up with twine. There was a small piece of paper attached.   
  
He looked at Maria, unsure what to make of it.  
  
"Read the card and open it," she told him.  
  
Steve took the small parcel from his wife's hand. He was surprised when he read the card and glanced up in surprise.   
  
She had a soft smile on her face. When he only stared at her she reached for the bow on the package and began to pull the string to open it.  
  
Steve glanced down at the package only half in anticipation.   
  
"It's socks," he told her.   
  
"Socks?" she asked and looked back up at him.  
  
"The card gave it away," he explained. "From Bucky. Sorry I missed Christmas. "  
  
Maria stopped pulling on the string.  
  
"I'm sure there must be some interesting story behind that," she hinted.   
  
Steve smiled, then opened the package.  
  
Sure enough, inside the neatly folded butcher paper was a pair of thick, woolen socks. He chuckled and shook his head, half in disbelief.   
  
"During the war, families would send the GIs care packages," Steve told her. "There were always socks in them."  
  
Steve took a deep breath to hold back the emotions the memory created.   
  
"Only Bucky and me, we didn't have any family at home, so our socks got kinda thin," he said.   
  
He stared across the room as if he could stare across time and see the scene set before him.  
  
"On our only Christmas together in the Army, Bucky and I exchanged gifts," he told her.  
  
He could see Bucky in the mess. There was a small Chistmas tree in the corner. The other soldiers around them eating their special Christmas dinner, chipped turkey and mashed potatoes. The voices were jovial and, for a while, you could almost forget there was a war.  
  
 _"Gotcha somthing," Bucky smiled and handed Steve a small package, butcher paper wrapped and tied with twine._  
  
 _"Well, such a coincidence," Steve smiled. "I got you one, too."_

 _Bucky laughed as he took a similar looking packed from Steve. They both tore into them, then they looked at each other, over new pairs of socks, and laughed._  
  
Steve felt a cool hand touch his to bring him back to the present. He looked at Maria and reached up to put his hand into her hair and pull her into a kiss.   
  
When he ended the kiss and leaned back on the sofa, he thanked her.  
  
"I didn't get you the gift," she reminded him.  
  
"Thank you for being here," he said. "For always being here."  
  
He took her hand and pulled her back into his embrace. Then he reached up with his other hand and began to run his fingers through her hair.  
  
"I couldn't have faced this without you," he said. "It would have been so much more difficult to watch him going through this without your support."  
  
They were quiet for several moments before Maria spoke.  
  
"He's going to be OK," she assured him, yet again. "You just have to be patient."  
  
"Not exactly a virtue of mine," he reminded her.  
  
"You were patient with me," she said.  
  
"Very good point," he replied and slowly slid his hand out of her hair and skimmed his fingers down her spine, causing her to shudder.  
  
"That was definitely worth every second of the wait," he said then reached down to her hips and pulled her into his lap.  
  
He began to undress her with his eyes and by the time he looked back up at Maria, her eyes were ablaze with desire.   
  
"I don't think I want to wait tonight, though," he said, his voice gruff with desire.  
  
She smiled and pressed herself against him, eliciting a soft moan.  
  
"I don't either, " she said before her lips took his into a passionate kiss.


End file.
